Actuating mechanism for cell doors and locks



Aug. 27, 1935. L, J, wHlTE ETAL 2,012,555

ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR CELL DOORS AND LOCKS Filed July 23, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 27, 1935. 1.. J. WHITE ET AL 2,012,556

ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR CELL DOORS AND LOCKS Filed July 25, 1934' 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ema/mm Aug. 27, 1935. I WHITE ET AL 2,012,556

ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR CELL DOORS AND LOCKS Filed July 23, 1954' 3 sheetssheet 3 Gilv Patented Aug. 27,1935

W I AND L'OCKS V 7 7 e Loyd J. white-andlltob ert L'Hill, :sahana io, j Tex., assignors to.Soutl1ern Priso1 Company J a corporation of Texas Application July 23, 1934, srialliw 326L604: t I I I s olaim (01.1394)! This invention relates [to "master actuating mechanism for a plurality of cell doors and locks suchas-a-re used in prison installations and involves certain important improvements on" the general type of mechanism shownU. SiPatnt No.- 1336361 to Hartfet al. Among oth'er objects, the invention aims to provide a gireatlysimplified intermittent gear-unit adapted to beusecl' in either oldor new prison installations having a plurality of celldoorsfifl'he main idea is'to provide an intermittentgear unit of the-type that can be standardized and madeat the factorysoj that it can be applied to practically"all -t'ypes of Y installations by more or less unskilled workmen. f A- further aimis to locatesu'ch a unit so that it iseasily accessible and can 'be installedin a master control cabinet without requiring} any changes in the design of 1 the oellwork or in the 1 usual: horizontal cover-"box or casin'gabove the cell doors. r Other aims and advantages of the invention will appear in the specification when'considered in connection with the accompanyingz drawings.

wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary'se'ctional 'view fpartly in elevation, showing one 7 form of the operating mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a'fragr nentary side elevationof the mechanism showing how it: is applied to operate master bars whichyare line withthe control 'cabinet;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-- -3 ofFig.1; a

Fig. 4 is a sectional-view takenon the linei4-4 1 of Fig. 3; andr V I r Fig. 5 is a fragmentary" sectional view showing the gearing of Fig. 4111 another position i Referringto the aioresaidHart et' al.1patent,': it has been found that the intermittent gearing shown therein works very satisiactorily, butlthe;

horizontal units are more or lessdifiicult to in-' stall in'the cover boxes. 'OftentimeSQthe space Y is quite limited in 'thecover boxes'and thereis not 'suffioient' room for the installation flofi. suc'h units. Moreover,'it has been. found that -units' of this type are'more or less costly'because of the great number of machine operations necessaryi Furthermore, it is practicallyimpossible mama-i ardize such units tobeiused in the; great variety' of installations-where they are required; "Insoine' 7 cases themaster bars haveto be on the right hand side of the unit and;}{ -others, 'on the leftghand side; Furthermore, provision-t has to be made -for. what is known as thebstraight line drive, where themasterbarsarein line with thezcontrol cabinet 1 nates suchi' objeotior-is"and enables the p be made' on' a quantity produotionlbasis ready fo'r assembly atthe plant rather than'on the -job and I bovev the corridororfcellqwal H.

and for rightan'gle drives both to the rig-ht and" to the left where the-control; cabinet is inounted directly on the cell wall, for example; "Also,ex-T

pensive changes-have to be made-to provide; for l diiferent lengths of travel ofdoors indifferent 5' f I installations In making such' insitallatioris the intermittent gear unit hasto be adjusted andflsyn;

chronized by an ere'Ction-brewohth job;-to-fop-' erate properly. The adjustments must be "made I s ian iwi sentme 'emen iv a 1 havetheWorlccloneproperly away fromithg'e''iac .v

tory by erection men-whensiistthomughly ext;

' periencedi inventio rii tvhereforeiaims 'topro .videa greatly simplified mechanism which limi- "to Reierring par 'might'be' consideredlas being substitutedfor the 1 L intermittent g eari-n g shown in the aforesaid- Hart; l etaL-patent; Inasmuch sam present inve'r tion 3'0 V fl relatesfso'lely tothe'ol f fating'ineansfor'impartak. 5

ing lock and door operating movements 'infpropei sequence to tl' e master bars,-'-illustrat-ion of the complete system is unnecessary. #Forfthefsake fof 'sim-plicity,'- the seleotormechanism and othifattaehments: are. omitted; reference bein'gmadeto the patent-'to Youngblood,No.-l,785,471 for illustration ofsuitable'seleotor mechanism.'- 1 Furthermore; reference is made to theYoungbloodPat- 3 exit 13785A69 and ;to' the Mardick etal. "estentno 40] 1,857,924showihg master-control-cabinets of th'e general character employed Likewise, reference is here made to the patent to White No. "1,951,315 a showing a lockingl attachmentlfor an-operating V handwheel adapted foruse' in'sueh systems sinc e :3 this system embodies a handwheelrwhioh isadapted to? be turned. through apredetermi-ned number of revolutions to impart aseriesof sei quential movements to themaster bars.

-In Figs. l and 2 there is shown aln example of 15o theoperating me'ohanismappliedto a; prisonfcell 7 installation having theusual' type of eover'box l i *1: war

as comprising shown conventiona1 Fseriesloi I I bars. some"moderninstallations, this corridor 5L5. j j

' r as being keyedon the hub of asmall driving pin-- 7 Ziwhichin't rn, fi h s W e ring 8 3 secured on 'a large 'intermittent gear 26 V rotatwall is madeof tool-resisting steel plate. The op-" direc a l9 at the end of the block'of cellsgadjacent to the corridor (not shown). k r

is shown the usual type of travel bar or door propelling bar 14 and the lock operating bar i 5, which are'adapted to be" erating mechanism is here shown as being mounted at thefend of a block of cells in a control cab;

inet 12 having an operating panel l3 and this control cabinet is usually located in 'a'keepers Referring to Fig. 2, there selectively connectedto the respective doors and locks Assuming that the doors areall closed and lockedwith the parts in the'positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it is necessary to impart unlocking movement to the lockingbar [5 while the travel bar 54 remains stationary. fThe n, the locking bar must remain st'ationary whiledoor opening move- 'ment is impartcdto the doorfpropelling bar 14.

After the doors'are opened, the.door"pro'pelling .1 bar must then remain stationary whilerelocking 1 movement is imparted to thelocking bar l5 to lock" the doorsopen. Thearrangement is such that all' of these sequential movements may beimparted to thegrnaster bars by;turning the hand-wheel I6 throughseveral:revolutions. ;Likewis e,'the selected doors mayb'e unlocked, closed. and locked closed- -by ,turning-the hand wheel in the reverse ti9n,;s that the handle'againis at the initial or starting position, asshown'g; 5 i I Instead of employing the horizontal intermittent gear unitin the cover box l 0, asshown in the aforesaid,Hartetalsfatent" No. 1,836,661, where it is not easily accessible, the unit has been'rede shown as having-aseries of ear sor lugs I 8 adapted to; be bolted or :otherwisesecured-to the partition control; cabinet. Asshown in- Fig. 3, the hand wheelglt i connectedgtc a. main shaftor drive i shaft lil' which is-journaledyin and extends through thegear casing. ;A' driving gear 2l,is-

" j keyed ontheshaitZO adjacent to the front wall y of the gear case and meshes with a pinion 22 which is rotatablyirnounted -on a stationary shaft meshes; with intermittent gfialson pinions 23 below themain-shaft. The pinion .22 is shown ably, mounted .on the main; shaft ,2 lL- The intermittent geary2 6,-best show'nfin ;Figs.=fi andv 5 .28, the pinion 2.1 being rotatably mounted on the shaft 23;andthe pinion 28 beingkeyed on an lockingibar. l ,Referring i110, Fig.3, intermittent pinion 21" is stallation, depending rupon'the extentor. opening 1movementof thedoors, Of course, itis under-1 stood';that abevelgear: drive may be substituted for thesprocketandjcham drive, suchgear'ingbeingflshown in. .the 1. Hart 'et' :al. ,Patent, No.

1,836,651 and, othersiLrHowever, the sprocket. and.

cover boxy-the prevent (it; from' being turned too far. aforesaid ZWhite Patent No. 1,95l,315;. the hand. .wheel isshownas having 'meansto lock it in any one of a number of positions and it is contemchain drive has beenfound to be quite satisfactory.

In this example, a'sprocket chain 32, driven by the cover box I 0. [In case'of a straight'line drive, as shown, thesprocket links are twisted at90 in the runs where they are trained over the sprockets'33. From the sprockets33 the chain is trained over a sprocket 35 supported on brackets 35 in the distance between the sprocket 35 :andthe sprockets 33 being determinedby the amountoi travel to be imparted to the door pro- :pellin'gibar.

In-this instance, the chain is connected to move the travel bar to the left as viewed doors.i:sIf;the travelbar had to be moved to the right toopenthe doors,'the runs of the chain over the sprocket 35 would be reversed, so that the bot- I the crank pinto abellocrank G0 which, in turn,

is connected to the locking bar l5, as' best shown in Fig.; 2. When the parts arein this position, or in the 1 position shown in Figs. 3. and 4, the crank pin 28 is-at-gits lower dead center, while intermittent gear 2iihasitsteeth meshing. with the. teethpntheLintermittent pinion 28. the-hand wheel. ,I'he intermittent gear 28is turned through a half revolution to the position shown in'Fig. 5, so that the crank pin 38 moves toits' upper dead center andthe intermittent gear isheld in, this position'while movement is being imparted to the other intermittent gear, 2],,it be- ,The gear 25Yis rotated clockwise by 35 v the sprocket 3|,is shown as having its vertical I runs passing over two adjacent sprockets v33 mounted on brackets 34 at the forward endof in Fig. 2 'to impart opening movement to the ing noted that the intermittent gear 2? has been 1 held stationary while the gear 28 was being ro-' Q tated; V Aiterthe-intermi-ttent gear; 2 8 assumes the I }'position shown in'Fig. 5, the teeth onthe. intermittent gear 26'e'nga'ge the teeth on the intermittent gear or pinion 21 and impart movement to it in the direction indicated until it has been turned through one c'ompleterevolution and its smooth partlengages the smooth part of the gear 26. In

Fig.5, only. half of the door operating movement .has been imparted through the intermittent pinion .21. .and:;the jconnected sprocket and chain. After a complete revolution is imparted. to this gear, the driving gearilii completesits revolution and again assumes the position shown in Fig. 4, so thatintermittent gear or-gpinion .28 is again turned through a half revolution to impart lock.-

, v I v,ing-r'novementto the 'lockin bar l5 thro h th upper shaftifl. The arrangement is such that the v g ug e intermittent. pinion, 21 is connected to impart movementstothe door propelliriggor travelbar 'and.the pinion; 28' impartsimovements to the crank pin 28." Inthat position, one complete cycle of operations has. taken place. .That is to say, the

doors haveibeenzunlocked, opened and locked '..open and the, hand'wheel is' backinitsoriginal position ready to be turned backward through. a several". revolutions to unlock the selected doors which-,were opened and locked open, close the doors andJa-gain lock them closed; If desired, the

; handwheel itself may have provision for'locking it-in anyoneof several positions, especially to.

In the I bars comprising a gear unit having a vertical I :hand wheel no .direction. 1 t rins -.7" :While the mechanism is illustratedas beingap: plied to what is called a straight lineJdriiIe, the

. only a few parts and can be made at being'turned too is in either same unit may be used in i installations where the rowrof cell: doors is at right. angles or case theimaster control cabinet is located on the side wall of a prisoners corridor as shown in'the pate ent to Youngblood.No:-1,6l1,260. It is a simple'...

matter-to select the propergearing to be connected to the master-bars inany systems Ob'vi ously,- the -unit" may also be employed to-drive pinions which mesh with -racks on{the bars as shown in the aforesaid White eta-l:Patent Nd. r 1,836,696Qand bevel ge'aring may be substituted for thesprocket ans chain drive in that case, as disclosed in the aforesaid Hart et a1. Patent No.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the vertical intermittent gear unit may be standardized and carried in stock at the factory. In fact, the unit maybe secured to a panel ready to be installed on any particular job, it being only necessary to determine in advance the particular size of the driving sprocket required. to open the doors. This greatly simplifies the installation. Furthermore, the unit-is very compact anddoes not take up. any unnecessary space. It includes a very much less cost than the horizontal unit mounted in the cover box; Thus, the machine operations are reduced to a minimum. Moreover, the gear case". mounted in the back partlofthe control cabinet 7 also serves as a supporting bracketfor the operating hand' wheel. Alsojthe unit lends itself-very herein shown and described." .Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of 'theinven tion be used conjointly, since they may be em 'ployed advantageously various combinations and sub-combinations.

What is claimed is: l

1. In a jail cell installation 'havingseparatebars to actuate thedoorsandlocks and amaster control cabinet, master actuating mechanism for the bars comprising a gear unit havihg-avertical casing mounted in the back of the controlcabinet and having an open upperend; intermittent gears in said casing includinga driving gear anda l. pair of pinions meshing therewithya'sprocket'; connected to one of said pinions; a'driving chain on said sprockethaving: one run connected 'to the door actuating bar; 'a'crank connected to be driven by the other'pinionhaving linkand lever connections to the lock'actuating bar; and a in the control cabinet.

manual operating member for-the gearing located 2. ma jail cell installation having separate bars V 7 portion of said cabinet below the level ofthetops of the doors; actuating devices connecting the to actuate the doors and locks and a master-centrol cabinet,master actuating mechanism for the casing mounted in the back of the control cabinet and having an open upper end; intermittent gears in said casing including a driving gear and a pair 'pinions me'shingstherewith iz-aisprocket con heated-tonne ofsaid -pinions;c:'a driving chain'ron end'of said casing; pair of adjacent guide 's'prock'ets beyond the front e nd of thegdoor 'actua said sprocket pro jectingkthrough:the openupper I atin'g bar over which, both runs of the chain are trained vand another sprocket adjacent to one j side ofthedoor actuating bar and spacedfrom said -guide sprocketsover which] the chain "is trained. so that-one run issubstantiallyparallel with said bar; meansi'connecting said parallel run crime chain to said bar means connectingthe other'ofsaid intermittent pinionsto actuate the locking bar-g andarr-operating handwheel in the control-cabinet connectedtof said gear unit-* l 3. 1 Ina -jail icell installation having separate 'bars to. actuate the doors 'andlocksan'd a master control cabinet,master actuating mechanism for f .the barsjcomprising "a gear unit havingQayertical casing mounted in the, back-of the control cabinet andliaving anopen upper end; inter-m vrnittent gearsin said casing including a driving a p; pinionsmeshingtherewith; a i .sprocket connectedto one of said pinions; aidrivgear and a pair of ing chain connecting saidsprocket, to the door actuating bar; a crankconnectedtbthe other of said intermittent pinions; a link and 'lever-conk necting the crank 7 wheel in the control cabinet; andspur. gearing 7 connecting the hand wheel-to operate said intermittent gears so thatilgthe hand wheel turns through a predeterminedynumber of, revolutions to perform onecycle oifoperations on the master bars and the selected doorsandlocks: i

a. As an article ofmanufacture, a gejarvunit for operating the master bars of a celldoor and lock 7 operating systemv comprising a gear casing hav-v ing provisionto be securedvertically in theback of a controlcabinet;.trains of intermittent gears, 40 .members projecting from the upper end: of the enclosed. within said, casing; separate, actuating to, the locking'bar; a hand 1 casing an d adapted to'be connected to thebars;

1 thev gearing being 'timed to 'impart the proper sequential movements thereto; and a manual op crating member 7 projecting from and supported v by said casing;

5. As anlarticle of manufacture, a standardized. 1

casing adapted to, be mounted V gear unit for actuating'the master bars of a door operating'and locking system comprising a gear vertically in the? back 'ofa'master control cabinet having a closed lower end to hold a, lubricant and an open upper end; intermittent gears in said casingincludingir 5 a driving gear and a pair of be connected to the respective bars; a drive shaft projecting at one end throughthe casingfmeansg' connecting the drive shaft 'toactuate .Ithe =inter-= mittent gears; an, operating member-on the drive a for the bars 'pro- 45 jecting through'the open upper. end of saidcasing; V wherebycontinuous movement of said operatingshaft; and actuating members members willimpartj proper sequential move ments to the bars. 1

6. In ajail cell installation having a horizontal cover box housing master members for actuating thedoors and locks and averticalcontrol cabinet outside the cells, master operatingymechanis'mi forthe lock and door actuating'members includingan intermittent gear unit secured in; the'rear l gearing in said unit to said master actuating members 'forthe doors and locks extending vercover box; and manual operating means associated with saidplgeari unitTand'icbnnected o sabe moved continuouslyzin gonegdirection to i 'part sequential movements Jtojsaidimaste 'c'tuating members-.1 9-

7. In a jail cell in aneebnnmg afhor ia ontalf cover-box housings master members for actuating the do'ors'and'locks andLa'ilertical control cabinet outside the cells, masteron'erating mechanism for the lock and door actuating members including angintermittent gear unit having a casing mountcoverhox; andai hand wheelco nnected to'1op- 1 erate' said; gearing and impart sequential movement to said master members as it is turned con-j tinuously' in one direction.

8-. Inajjail cell .installation'having a cover box housingf'separate barsto actuate the doors and locks and a vertical master control cabinet atone end of 1 the ,cell block, master actuating .mecha nism for. thebars comprising an intermittent gear unit having a. casingmounted iverticallyr in the back of the control cabinet below the cover box; a sprocket and chain driveconnecting the gear unit to ,the door operating bar; means also connecting the gear unit to thelocking bar; and a ed in the rear of;said,control cabinet; actuatinghandwheel connected to operate the-gearing armeanscionnectingi the intermittent-gearing to said 7 mastermembersand'having parts arranged in'th'e impart' sequential movement to the bars as it is turned in one direction.

' .ROBER L.

ranged in the, control 'cabinetand, adapted-t0 

